Sufjan Stevens has shared the first single “No Shade In The Shadow Of The Cross,” from his forthcoming release Carrie & Lowell. The album will be released March 31 on Stevens’ own Asthmatic Kitty Records. The label will host local listening parties with independent record stores and venues between now and mid-March. See below for details.

Sufjan Stevens will tour in support of Carrie & Lowell throughout North America beginning in April. Dates include stops at New York’s Beacon Theater and Washington, D.C.’s DAR Constitution Hall. Stevens will also headline the U.K.’s End of the Road festival this September.

Carrie & Lowell was recorded by Stevens alongside Casey Foubert, Laura Veirs, Nedelle Torrisi, Sean Carey, Ben Lester and Thomas Bartlett and mixed by Stevens, Bartlett and Pat Dillet. Thematically the 11 songs address life and death, love and loss, and the artist’s struggle to make sense of the beauty and ugliness of love. The album is named for Stevens’ mother and stepfather and is a return to Stevens’ folk roots.

A singer-songwriter currently living in Brooklyn, NY, Stevens’ preoccupation with epic concepts has motivated two state records (Michigan & Illinois), a collection of sacred and biblical songs (Seven Swans), an electronic album for the animals of the Chinese zodiac (Enjoy Your Rabbit), two Christmas box sets (Songs for Christmas, vol. 1-5 and Silver & Gold, vol. 6-10), and a BAM-commissioned programmatic tone poem for the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (The BQE). In 2010 Stevens released an expansive EP (All Delighted People) and the full length The Age of Adz, a collection of songs partly inspired by the outsider artist Royal Robertson.

SUFJAN STEVENS LISTENING PARTIES

February 21-22 Tokyo Shinkiba Studio Coast with Hostess Club Weekender
March 5 Indianapolis, IN Indianapolis Museum of Art with Indy CD & Vinyl
March 10 London Rough Trade East
March 10 Nottingham Rough Trade
March 10 Bristol Rise
March 10 Dublin Tower/Douglas Hyde Gallery
March 10 Hamburg Michelle
March 10 Berlin Bis Auf Messer

SUFJAN STEVENS LIVE

April 9 Philadelphia, PA Academy of Music
April 10 Philadelphia, PA Academy of Music
April 11 New York, NY Beacon Theater
April 12 Hartford, CT The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts
April 14 Portland, ME Merrill Auditorium
April 15 Albany, NY The Palace Theater
April 16 Cleveland, OH Cleveland Masonic Auditorium
April 17 Columbus, OH Palace Theater
April 18 Indianapolis, IN The Murat Theatre
April 20 St. Louis, MO Peabody Opera House
April 21 Kansas City, MO Midland Theater
April 22 Minneapolis, MN Northrop Auditorium
April 23 Milwaukee, WI Riverside Theater
April 24 Chicago, IL Chicago Theatre
April 25 Chicago, IL Chicago Theatre
April 27 Detroit, MI Masonic Temple
April 28 Grand Rapids, MI Covenant Fine Arts Center
April 29 Toronto, ON Massey Hall
April 30 Montreal, QC Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier / Place Des Artes
May 1 Brooklyn, NY Kings Theatre
May 2 Brooklyn, NY Kings Theatre
May 4 Boston, MA Citi Performing Arts Center – Wang Theatre
May 5 Washington, D.C. DAR Constitution Hall
May 6 Richmond, VA Altria Theater
May 7 Durham, NC Durham Performing Arts Center
May 9 New Orleans, LA Saenger Theatre
May 10 Dallas, TX Majestic Theatre
May 11 Houston, TX Jones Hall for the Performing Arts
May 12 Austin, TX Bass Concert Hall
May 13 Austin, TX Bass Concert Hall
June 2 San Diego, CA Copley Symphony Hall*
June 3 Los Angeles, CA Dorothy Chandler Pavilion*
June 4 Los Angeles, CA Dorothy Chandler Pavilion*
June 5 Oakland, CA Fox Theater*
June 6 Oakland, CA Fox Theater*
June 8 Portland, OR Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall*
June 9 Vancouver, BC Orpheum Theatre*
June 10 Seattle, WA The Paramount Theatre*
June 11 Seattle, WA The Paramount Theatre*
July 17-18 Eaux Claires Festival Eau Claire, WI
*with Helado Negro